


How to fuel the flame

by Maerchenmord



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Adult Armin Arlert, Adult Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Air bender Armin, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Anal Sex, Avatar Eren, Earth bender Mikasa, Falling In Love, Fire bender Levi, First Kiss, First Time, It's a love story, It's not kinky, M/M, Mild Smut, No Avatar Characters, Toph and Aang are only mentioned, Young Eren Yeager, young mikasa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 23:29:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14725652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maerchenmord/pseuds/Maerchenmord
Summary: Eren stumbles over a hint where to find the masterful fire bender from his dreams in the middle of the slums in Ba Sing Se and manages to convince the fiery man to teach him the ways of the flames, but they’re soon running out of time, as Levi needs to return to the resistance he leads in the capital and the young avatar doesn’t make progress in his lessons.When Levi learns, that it’s the boy’s feelings that stand in the way of mastering the new element, he’s burdened to make a choice, not knowing if Eren will ever be able to kindle the fire in his heart.





	How to fuel the flame

**Author's Note:**

> Hello dear readers, it's cute little potato-chan (Phoenix gave me that name and I'll stick with it! :P)  
> I've finished the little story I've been obsessing over, something I needed to get out of my system and it's ready for you to read now, after hammering the last twenty pages down today :D  
> I shall warn you, that you might have difficulties to enjoy this story, if you don't know The Legend of Aang - If you do, you'll find a ton of references I cramped into this story (maybe I focused a little too much on that and a bit too little on the build of the plot *lol*) and it might be a lot easier to understand what I'm talking about, because I didn't explain a lot of things from the Avatar Universe in detail. The story grew into a little monster and I didn't want to add another five thousand words to do so.
> 
> The story is a "what if" kind of thing. What if the next avatar isn't Korra but Eren and the world hasn't changed as drastically as in the show but stayed the same instead of entering the age of industrialization. The war is over since a few decades, but not everything has changed for the better and it is Eren's turn to master the elements.
> 
> As I say at the beginning of all my fics: I'm not a native English speaker. I'm doing my very best, but I'm certainly not on par with most of the writers here and I appreciate any comment or help to improve the quality of my writing. The longer the text, the more I grow blind to my own errors, so feel free to tell me if I make mistakes! :)
> 
> I hope you enjoy this one-shot. Leave me some comments and tell me what you think if you feel like it - I'm always happy about feedback :)

 

The first time he saw the fire devil, he was dreaming. Dreaming of an inferno of flames, all-consuming, destroying everything in the wake of its deathly hunger.

And in the middle of it all, there was a man.

A man, wielding the heat and the fire, the endless blaze that devoured the lands and the only thing burning more brightly then the luster he orchestrated with pale, slender fingers, was the ice in his eyes.

Eyes made of grey and blue, eyes made of the color of his home. Cold and beautiful and just as deathly as the glaciers of the south pole and then, only then did he know that the devil didn’t seek his destruction.

The devil called for him.

 

The second time he saw the fire devil, he looked at a poster, glued to a crumbling wall in the slums of Ba Sing Se, with “WANTED” written on top of it in bold, ugly letters.

A futile attempt of the authorities, who had driven the sick and the poor to the outer ring and asked for their aid in finding a criminal now. Finding one of their own.

“It’s him.”, Eren whispered and Armin and Mikasa turned their heads in concern. “It’s the man from my visions. The devil in the fire.”

 

The third time he saw the fire devil, Eren sat on a chair, caged by the dark, looming walls of a cellar in the underground.

The city didn’t help those in need, so they helped themselves by raiding storages for food and medicine and the adept earth benders among them had done their part by creating a network of paths and hiding spots below the shabby buildings that nestled against the outside of the inner wall.

The devil – Levi, as he had learned by now – was intimidating despite his meager height with a glare that froze people in place and demanded attention and respect.

Now, he looked mostly curious, albeit impatient.

“Aren’t you an illustrious group. You’re a circus or something?”

“No, we…”

He rolled his eyes and lighted a small roll of tobacco, that hung loosely in the corner of his mouth with a flick of his fingers, drawing a surprised gasp from Armin’s lip.

“By the spirits... There really is a fire bender in the midst of Ba Sing Se.”

Levi eyed the small man, his tattoos, his clothes, before his gaze wandered to Eren and finally Mikasa.

“Says the air nomad, who accompanies two kids from the earth kingdom and the water tribe.”

The small air bender blushed but didn’t answer and Levi switched his glare back to Eren, obviously tired of the small talk now.

“You’ve been tracking me for weeks, what do you want? You hope to collect the bounty on my head?”

“What? No!!”

Eren coughed to clear his throat, reigned himself in after his outburst and got up from his wobbly chair.

“I need a master to train me…”, Levi cocked a brow, a few puzzle pieces falling into place in his head, judging by the expression in his face, “… fire bending.”

The young water bender brought his hands together in front of his chest, his left forming a fist, with his right set on top of it, his fingers pointing to the ceiling above them, before he bowed deeply.

A flame and it’s pit, a traditional greeting in the fire nation.

“I would be honored, if you shared your wisdom with me, Sifu Levi.”

“No.”

Eren exhaled deeply, his shoulders slumped while he straightened up. “No?”

“Look around. The people are starving, fighting the plague, fighting their own kin here. You think I have time for an entitled brat?”

“It’s _Avatar Eren_ for you!”, spat Mikasa and the small man chuckled.

“Oh, excuse me, my lord.”

He bowed deeply himself now, without getting up from his stool, accompanied by a mocking, overly dramatic gesture of his hands.

“You god damn – “

“Mikasa.”

Her mouth snapped shut and Eren sighed, shaking his head. “He’s right.”

“Eren!”, her eyes went wide, her lips opening to protest again but he raised a hand, stopping her in her tracks.

“I didn’t choose to be the Avatar, I was born this way. It’s not an achievement.”, his gaze focused on Levi again. “But I want to achieve something. I know, that the people here fight real, immediate problems while I undergo this journey, but I need to learn all the elements if I want to bring balance back to this world. Not knowing one of them, means not knowing anything at all. Everything is connected and we all need each other.”

His steely eyes raked over Eren, before his gaze ventured further, focusing on Armin, who seemed to shrink under the scrutiny.

“Spoken like a true air bender, hm?”

“The avatar is a diligent student.”, answered the nomad, while he closed his eyes and bowed slightly, and his voice didn’t betray his words, spoke of his honesty instead.

Eren, the air bender found, had been listening well to his lessons and while his mind would always stay erratic and wild like the waters of the ocean, he had learned humility and felt content with what little the world offered to him in a time of poverty, plague and starvation, where simply being the avatar didn’t grant one devotion and care any longer.

“I tell you what, brat.”, interrupted the fire bender Armin’s thoughts, unfolding his legs and getting up from the small, shabby stool he had been sitting on, before he threw the stub to the ground and crushed it under his heel. “I’ll teach you, if you teach me.”

“Teach you?”, asked Eren, his head snapping up. “I’m not sure what you could learn from me, Sifu.”

“Don’t gimme that ‘teacher’ shit. You’re a water bender, right?”

The boy nodded cautiously, uncertain how the fire bender expected him to teach him an ability inherited by nature. You didn’t gain bending abilities, you were born with them and nobody except himself would be able to rule over more than one element. “Yes, Sif– Levi.”

“Lightning.”, the small man said and Eren’s eyes widened in understanding, while his comrades frowned in confusion, but Levi didn’t pay them any mind, as he stepped in front of Eren and shot him a smug grin.

“We’re gonna have a little slumber party. You show me yours, I show you mine. Fire bending for water techniques, shit stain. You think you can handle it?”

The young man nodded, a smile forming on his lips, before he lowered himself, bowing again and sealing the deal with his new teacher. “Yes, Levi.”

 

~~~

 

“What was he talking about?”, hissed Mikasa, while they browsed the market with what little money they had left.

Not only was fire bending not appreciated in the midst of the earth kingdom but Levi was wanted by the authorities and as much as it seemed to trouble the fire bender to desert his flock of the old, young and the sick who depended on him and his ragtag group of rebels, they would need to leave the city for a while in order to begin Eren’s training.

Buying food was in order.

“To create lightning is an advanced fire bending technique.”, started the avatar before the black-haired earth bender interrupted him.

“And how are you supposed to teach him advanced fire bending abilities? I thought he was going to teach _you_.”

“I can’t.”, stated Eren and shot her a look, gauging if she was going to jump in yet again or let him finish this time.

Mikasa though, just stared and he released a breathy chuckle, while he turned his attention back to the stall in front of him, only to decide that the poor excuse for an apple in his hand wouldn’t suit their needs.

Fresh fruits, vegetables – these things would rot too fast. They needed nuts, dried, salted meat and fish. Maybe bread, even though flour would be better. They had a fire and an earth bender in their group. Molding a stone oven and heating it to bake a loaf could be done easily and flour lasted longer than bread itself.

“They can create it, but it’s possible for fire benders to deflect lightning as well, a technique based on water bending.”

“Why would you teach him that? Shouldn’t you keep this knowledge for yourself? God knows what he will use it for!”

The brunette shook his head with a smile. “It’s defensive, a skill learned to protect, not to destroy. The motions, the flow of energy is ingrained in every water bender, but we cannot guide the fire itself. And while a fire bender can, they lack the understanding of the technique to do so.”

He grinned with juvenile excitement, putting his hands together in front of him. “It’s old, ancient actually. I have heard of few fire benders who ever accomplished to master this skill.” Looking down on his fingers, resting against each other as if to say a prayer, he entwined them. “Only when both elements come together, one can learn to execute it.”

“That’s beautiful, Eren.”, spoke Armin with a soft, encouraging smile on his lips, but Mikasa kept frowning.

The avatar gave a shy nod, his hands falling back to his sides, before he followed the air bender to the next stall and watched in amusement how the vendor gaped at the arrow tattoos on Armin’s head and arms.

“Something is fishy Eren. He refused to train you. Why would he change his mind so easily?”, insisted the earth bender in his back. “He must want to gain something from this, other than some dusty water bending knowledge!”

The boy furrowed his brows at her words, taken aback by the tactless comment about his culture, his heritage and was about to retort with an equally snappy answer, before he heard Armin’s soft voice, amicable but firm.

“Maybe, Mikasa, he just liked what Eren told him.”

A few coins left his tattooed hand and he took the mix of dried nuts and plums from the merchant, before he turned to the pair.

“You might be used to facing everything head on, to fight for what you want, strike first and ask questions later, but I assure you…”, a knowing smile crept over his face, “… showing respect and being humble can be very convincing at times.”

 

~~~

 

“Let’s get this shit show started, brat.”

The avatar looked up from the fire, his eyes still glazed with sleep and he nodded.

Leaving Ba Sing Se hadn’t been easy, with Levi being sought after far and wide by the authorities all over the earth kingdom. Only the night before had they managed to get out, thanks to the combined skills of their group with Mikasa keeping them underground most of the time, Armin and Eren covering them in cloudy mist and Levi knowing just the right people among the officials to bribe when it came to leaving through the outer wall.

It was noon now, after a night spent walking, only to collapse for a few hours of sleep when the first rays of sunshine rose at the horizon, miles and miles away from the city.

Levi, they all knew, didn’t have time. His people needed him back and he wasn’t going to wait and pamper the water bender, just because he didn’t get enough of his beauty sleep.

Pushing himself up from the ground, he walked over to the small man who was ridding himself of his shirt and Eren followed suit, expecting a rigorous workout from the expression on Levi’s face.

It was embarrassing, pathetic really, but the boy didn’t want to falter before his training had even begun.

Levi, that much was obvious, was a man. Eren didn’t know how old the fire bender was but he must have left his teens for a while, with his broad back, ripped torso and the muscular arms, encircled by a braid made of thin strips of leather and fabric around his biceps, just as the avatar had seen in books about the fire nation.

Pieces of clothing from loved ones, meant to ward against evil spirits and bring luck on the battle field.

It was the first time in his life, that he actually saw someone wearing the Pra Jiad.

Eren was… different. A boy in statue, if not in mind, only 15 years old and while he already had an advantage in height to the small man, he was slim, and his frame was childish.

Accompanied by the wisdom and power of hundreds of generations of avatars, he was still young and while he had never concerned himself with the fact before, he averted his eyes now, ashamed by the crass physical contrast between him and his master.

“Oi! What crawled up your ass?”

His head snapped up, his gaze flying back to the small man, while he folded his arms in front of his chest, as if it would help to hide his scrawny body from the man.

“Uh, nothing. Let’s get started.”

“Fire – ”, began the fire bender immediately without further preamble. “ – is the element of power.”

He closed in on Eren, near enough that he could reach him with his outstretched arm but with a bit of space left between them, for Levi not to bend his neck up when he eyed the avatar. “What does that mean in terms of fire bending?”

The young man gaped at him with a lost expression, before he answered, his words sounding more like a question than a statement. “Uh… You need to be strong?”

A scoff was the only comment on that, before Levi rolled his eyes. “Forget it. You’re a water bender, which other element feels closest to you?”

“Air.”, he spoke without hesitation.

“Why?”

“Uhm…”

“Because water and air are alike.”, explained the fire bender when it became obvious that Eren didn’t have much to add to the conversation. “Both can be calm, both can be fierce. Just like air, water is always in motion like the push and pull of the tides and while it can break down walls, it will rather find the cracks in it to make it through. Always adapting, water and air find a way.”

The tip of Levi’s index finger pressed against Eren’s forehead and startled the kid. “It’s how you think, dipshit. You may be vastly different from your nomad friend but both of you go with the flow. Get it?”

When the water bender showed his understanding with a nod, he heard a somewhat satisfied grunt from the small man.

“What’s the closest to fire?”

“Earth?”, Eren guessed and sighed in relief when Levi’s face showed agreement.

“Why?”

He shrugged and shook his head, opting for honesty instead of incoherent mumbling this time. “I don’t know.”

“Look at her.”

Levi had turned halfway, his eyes resting on Mikasa who glared back at them with Armin sitting next to her, watching their first training session with undivided attention.

“Earth is stubborn, unyielding. The mountain doesn’t come to the man, the man get’s his fucking ass to the mountain. If she wants to bend the earth to her will, she needs to be determined, relentless, unwavering.”

Following the small man’s gaze, he saw the earth bender tugging up her scarf as if to hide her face behind it. Mikasa didn’t like Levi – they all knew that much – but for the first time in the last 24 hours, she didn’t challenge his words.

“Fire can be dangerous.”, his teacher continued. “If you control it or get devoured is a matter of strength, of determination. Be fierce, don’t waver, don’t yield. Don’t let yourself be ruled by the flames but bend them to your will. That is, what we have in common.”

He looked back at Levi, comprehension creeping into his face, because the fire bender himself was the very embodiment of those words, with his harsh glare, his expression that told every man and woman who ever laid eyes on him, that he wouldn’t give in, wouldn’t back down.

Levi would wield the inferno, just like he had in Eren’s dreams, not because of a talent he was born with, but because of his mind, his spirit, the strength of his soul.

“I understand…”, he whispered, enamored by his own thoughts and the look cast upon him by the small man softened.

“There is one thing, that separates us from every other bender.”, spoke Levi after a moment of silence with a calm, almost gentle voice. “Do you know what it is?”

“It is…”, the avatar furrowed his brows in contemplation, before he looked over to his friends, then back at Levi and realization dawned on him. His voice was low, his words spoken in wonder when he uttered the answer that was so blatantly obvious but had never struck him before as it did now. “Fire benders create their element... How?”

“Because fire is more than destruction, Eren. Fire is life.”

Levi closed the remaining distance between them and the water bender felt himself stiffen when a warm breath ghosted over the bare skin of his chest. “Only a fire bender can draw it out…”, he raised a small, calloused hand and spread it over Eren’s heart, a shiver running through the boy’s body when he felt the contrast between the cold afternoon air and the heat of Levi’s fingers. “… but its warmth, its light, its flame… These things live in all of us.”

 

~~~

 

He needed a break and Levi wasn’t amused when Eren told him as much and instructed the group to prepare food with the excuse that he needed time to meditate and ponder over the words of the fire bender.

Armin didn’t bother. It was him who had introduced the water bender to the spiritual parts of his being, since the nomads lived a life of austereness to connect with the otherworldly aspects of existence. Meditation was second nature to the small man, just as mundane as taking a shit.

The glare he received from Mikasa was just as harsh as Levi’s, albeit for completely different reasons if Eren had to make a guess. She always saw right through him and he wondered – not for the first time – if she was one of the few earth benders like Toph, who knew to distinguish a truth from a lie, by sensing the small hints his body gave away.

The carefully concealed tremor on his limbs, the quick heartbeat in his chest, telltale clues that vibrated into the earth, ready to be picked up by a masterful bender of the element.

Okay, so maybe he wasn’t honest. Maybe he didn’t need to think about the fire in his chest but the hand that had been laying on top of it.

A warm hand, hot almost as if the flames lived right under Levi’s skin, ready to burst out at any given moment.

His digits weren’t long, since the bender was small in statue and his body was well proportioned from his muscular legs, his slim hips, wide shoulders to the tip of his fingers, but Eren remembered how rough they had felt, calloused, as if Levi had been working with his hands every single day of his life.

Strong but gentle when they touched him, their potency contained, controlled just like the fire that he wielded.

Hands of a true warrior.

The water bender swallowed heavily, while he forced himself to stare into nothing, still feeling the ghost of the digits on his chest and wondering about the new, unknown feeling he had never experienced in his life before, erupting in his heart as soon as the fire bender had touched him.

His teacher, he thought, was not as he had expected him to be.

One short lesson and Eren already saw everything the small bender had told him in the man himself.

Levi was like the fire. Beautiful but dangerous in one moment, harsh and unforgiving, while he emitted nothing but gentle warmth in the next and it had caught the young avatar completely off guard after the few days they had spent together in the capital, where the fire bender had been nothing but abrasive.

Maybe it was the deep love to his element, that had brought a tender touch to his words but Eren couldn’t stop himself from wondering about it.

Meeting the small man had been destiny, because the water bender knew how rare the visions of those that fate had strung together with the avatar, were.

Most reincarnations never had a single one.

That aside, he had felt deeply connected with the fire bender, the second his pale hand had touched his skin, despite him being Eren’s natural opposite and those eyes…

Irides made of ice and clouds, colored like the wide expanse of the see on a stormy day.

No matter his black hair and pale skin, the heat of his body and the fire in his breath, that were so typical for his kind, he had the eyes of a water bender.

 

~~~

 

“We’re wasting time.”

Eren sighed and answered with a small nod, before he took his shirt off for the second time this afternoon, only to feel embarrassed and unmanly all over again.

The breakfast – or rather lunch – had long been finished and the water bender had evaded training for almost an hour now to calm his rapid heart and distract himself from the memory of Levi’s fingers on his skin.

A god damn touch shouldn’t bother him so much. His companions hugged him all the time. By the spirits, he was the fucking avatar!

Squaring his shoulders, he stepped closer, while Mikasa and Armin looked up from the fire and a smug grin spread on Levi’s face when he saw the angry determination in Eren’s eyes.

“I’m going to show you how to control a flame before you create your own.”, he opened the second lesson. “But before we start, you need to understand how to guide fire.”

Eren replied with a nod, not really having anything to say but wanting to show that he listened intently.

“What do you think about, when you bend water? What needs to be going on in your head?”

“I… uh… just let my thoughts flow?”

“Good, how about you Armin?”

“Mhm… Emptiness. Peace of mind maybe?”

“And Mikasa?”

“I need to focus on the task at hand, there’s nothing in my head but my goal.”

Levi nodded, apparently satisfied with the answers, before he turned back to Eren. “Fire needs _fuel_.”

Well, that much seemed logical but it wasn’t overly explanatory either. Luckily the small bender didn’t leave him hanging.

“There are many ways to fan a flame. The easiest is to use your emotions but it is prone to fail. Wrath gives you strength, but it is hard to control, fear makes you cautious, but it can leave you frozen and unable to act, and desire…”, a glint in Levi’s eyes almost managed to distract Eren from the benders next words, “…drives you, makes you focus on what you lust for but may blind you for everything else around you.”

“What do you think of then?”, Eren asked but Levi just smiled mysteriously and moved on.

“A lot of fire benders use anger to fuel their bending, but you need to stay in control and contain your feelings. Contentment is better, do you understand?”

“I guess…”

A fast move with his hand was all it took to ignite a flame on top of Levi’s palm and Eren stared at it for a second, the way it danced a few centimeters over the pale skin without touching, without burning it.

“Turn around and raise your arm.”

His eyes flicked to Levi’s before he obeyed and moved, reaching out with one stretched out arm in front of him, his open palm towards the sky, while he heard soft steps from behind, the small bender closing in on him.

“It’s a common misconception, that the strength of your fire bending comes from your muscles. A stronger move won’t fuel the flame. It’s your thoughts and your breathing.”

A sudden heat in his back made him flinch slightly and he peaked over his shoulder, seeing Levi right behind himself, stretching his own arm in front, his hand with the flame next to Eren’s now, while Levi’s other hand settled on the naked skin between his shoulder blades.

“Now breath slowly and deep. Fill your mind with contentment, think of whatever makes you peaceful and feel the fire.”

Eren gulped, while his heart hammered in his chest and Levi moved his hand right below his own, the flame dancing on top of the water benders palm now.

It was clear as day that Levi felt the wild frenzy in his ribcage, but he didn’t comment on it, just kept telling him to breath slowly and moved closer, his own, slowly rising chest touching Eren’s back now to serve as an example and guide him through the motion.

Eren though, only felt heat. The heat of Levi’s muscles on his shoulders, of his hand below his own, holding the water benders up while the flame danced on top of it and as much as he tried, he couldn’t think of anything but pale skin and black hair and eyes with the colors of the south pole.

“I will move my hand away, and you will keep the flame burning.”

“I…”, he started but stopped himself, unwilling to fail his new teacher just yet, unwilling to back down in his very first lesson when Levi had explained him only an hour ago that determination was necessary to accomplish fire bending and by the spirits he was willing.

Determined to show the small man that he was capable, determined to master the element that filled Levi’s features with fondness as soon as he talked about it, but the second the small bender moved his hand, there was nothing left but the feeling of the skin on his back and his breath in Eren’s neck and the carefully crafted control of the flame, that Levi had held till this very moment was gone.

The column of fire that burst into the sky in an instant had Armin shrieking in suprise, while Mikasa jumped to her feet out of pure instinct, ready to raise a wall of stone from the ground to shield both of them.

Levi was faster though, with a single, well calculated step, devoid of all panic, before he grabbed Eren’s wrist and pushed it downwards, the inferno that spread from his hand dying in the very same second.

“Your contentment is a force of nature, huh?”, he mumbled without any trace of amusement and Eren cast his gaze to the ground, happy that Levi didn’t make fun of him but feeling bad about his failure all the same.

 

~~~

 

“Keep going, Levi.”

Eren weaved his hands through the air, gently moving the water in front of him, while the small man followed his example and moved, well, nothing.

“Why exactly do we have to do this in the fucking river?”

The young water bender rolled his eyes without ever stopping his motion.

“Being in the water helps, it can guide you. I always train in the river when I get the chance to do it and so will you. Try to feel it.”

As usual, Levi didn’t object. He was strict and demanding as soon as it came to teaching Eren but never questioned his reasons, when the water bender trained him in return, even if he was twice his age, a grown man that didn’t have to take shit from an adolescent boy.

Eren liked it. No matter their differences, no matter the huge gap in experience concerning life, fighting, bending, simply everything, Levi respected him.

That exercising in the river meant to see the fire bender in nothing but his undergarments was an added bonus and Eren took his fill, watched the man, followed the movement of his muscles, covered by smooth, pale skin ridden with scars under the pretense of observing his motions.

Levi was good. Exceptional really and could have been a real prodigy, if water bending would have been in his nature.

The flow of his chi, the way he moved, simply everything was perfect and Eren was impressed how easily the fire bender changed his state of mind, went from the stoic, controlled ruler of flames to an ever-flowing whisperer of the waters, never stopping, never standing still, just like the waves of the ocean.

“What’s in your mind when we train?”

Eren looked up I confusion before it dawned on him that the small man wasn’t talking about his water bending exercises but the complete opposite.

In contrary to Levi, the avatar was still a horrible excuse for a fire bender who couldn’t control a flame in the slightest and while his teacher seemed to blame it on his poor guidance, Eren had started to understand during the last days, that it was the man himself who made him struggle with his presence and the recurring contact of their bodies whenever Levi tried to help him through the breathing techniques.

It had been almost a week and while Eren had no doubt that the fire bender could deflect the lightnings of a whole army by now, he hadn’t made any real progress himself.

Not that he didn’t have it in him, if the wild storms of fire he released whenever Levi came close to him, where anything to go by.

“Uhm…”

“Are your thoughts wandering?”

The fire bender inhaled deeply at the very same time Eren did so, the way of the water benders breathing already deeply ingrained in his muscle memory after only a few sessions.

Of course, his thoughts wandered.

They were occupied with soft touches and the scent of Levi’s skin and Eren had asked himself a million times if it would come off as impolite to ask the man to stay a few meters away from him when they went through the regimen, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so and he would rather face all the troops of the earth kingdom at once, than tell the fire bender that he was thinking about _him_.

“Yeah, maybe…”

“You don’t have this problem when it comes to earth bending. Maybe a few more sessions with Mikasa would help.”

“I’m not sure…”

His arms fell to his sides and the water in front of him clashed down to the surface of the river, sprinkling both of them with silvery drops that ran down on Levi’s tight abdomen and caught in the fabric of his underwear.

Eren swallowed.

It was hopeless.

“I think…”, he licked his lips, suddenly dry and the fire bender cocked a brow but waited patiently for him to continue. “There’s something else I need to make peace with first. I will meditate over it.”

“Yeah, do that.”, Levi scoffed and despite towering over the fire bender by a good bit, Eren felt small under his scrutinizing eyes.

 

~~~

 

Traveling to the western air temple had been Armin’s idea. Eren needed to focus and to find a way to clear his mind and while the waters of his home, the spiritual poles of this word, would have been the best choice of destination, they lacked the time to undergo a journey all the way to glaciers of the south.

The sight, they all agreed, was something to behold and the tranquility in the air spoke to each of them in one way or another.

If the avatar couldn’t center himself here to get a hold of his fire bending, it was probably a lost cause altogether.

Eren helped Armin to create the powerful breeze that let them down to the ledge of one of the temples, after agreeing that they didn’t want to disturb the place with their other bending abilities, even though Levi creating a strong upwind with his flames or Mikasa surfing down the cliff and jumping over hovering rocks would have been an intriguing sight.

While Levi and Mikasa set up the camp, he wandered through the temples with Armin, mostly devoid of people and the nomad introduced him to the great benders of his kind, their faces driven into stone.

“And this…”, he whispered in awe when they stopped in front of one of the biggest statues, right in front of the sanctum, “…is Aang.”

“They pictured you well, old friend.”, Eren murmured, while he reached out with his hand and set it gently on the stone that felt almost warm, as if it was pulsing with life.

“True.”, Armin chuckled. “I always forget that it is you.”

“It is, and it isn’t.”, Eren replied. “I’m his reincarnation but we’re not the same person. We live different life’s, have different feelings and thoughts.”

“Indeed.”, responded the air bender and stepped forward, placing his palm on the statue next to Eren’s. “Looking at his family tree, Aang had a great interest in water, not fire benders.”

Eren’s had whipped around, his eyes growing wide while Armin kept smiling at the statue with a soft expression. “What?!”

“I’m not judging you Eren.”, he answered and withdrew his hand before he turned to the boy who was looking rather pale now, despite his usually tan skin. “Your fire bending… It’s Levi, isn’t it?”

“I… well…”, Eren huffed in defeat, knowing that the battle was already lost. “Yes...”

The water bender only mumbled the word, embarrassed that his teacher had seen through him so easily and a deep blush crept into his face.

Armin may be significantly older than him – albeit younger than Levi – but he had always considered Mikasa to be the perceptive one among them. Did all of them know?

Did Levi know?!

“Your visions…”, the slim hand that had been touching the stony base of Aangs statue landed on his left shoulder now. “…might have shown you more than just a teacher, dear friend.”

“But it’s…”, Eren started to stutter, his anxious expression betraying his composed demeanor from only a few moments ago, leaving him looking like the child he was. “It’s not right!”

He cast his eyes to the ground, clenching his fists while a slight tremor ran through his body, visible to the nomad in front of him who shook his head with a sigh and drew the boy into his arms.

Eren was wise beyond his years, one of the reasons why he had started his journey two summers earlier than other avatars when the signs couldn’t be ignored any longer. His bending was beautiful, and Armin prided himself with the thought that the young man had only grown further under the tender care of Mikasa and the nomad himself.

They had been traveling for a year now, the water bender living through his fifteenth winter only a short while ago and it was so easy to forget that the powerful soul in front of him, master of the elements and bridge to the spirit world was still so very young.

A mighty being, yet caring, humble, thoughtful and eloquent – and terrified by the most mundane things in the world at the same time.

“It’s disgusting…”, he whispered, and Armin furrowed his brows, gently pushing the boy away and grabbing his chin to force his head up, unwilling to let Eren avoid his gaze.

“No. No, Eren. Never. Opening your heart for someone is not something disgusting.”

His pale fingers wandered to the water benders cheek, cupping it carefully like the loving touch of a mother. “Love knows no bounds. Don’t ever forget that.”

 

~~~

 

Three weeks into their journey and Eren’s adolescent crush had grown into full blown adoration, while his fire bending suffered and reached a new low, day after day.

That the small man never blamed him was only another thing to add to the pile of Levi’s admirable traits that the water bender had conjured in his head and it was all too obvious by now, that Eren tried to spend every waking minute with him. He listened intently to Levi’s stories when they came together around the fire in the evening, gave him the biggest portions of their food, set his mats and furs closest to the fire benders sleeping place and it had happened several times that Eren caught Armin’s eyes while a soft, knowing smile spread on the nomad’s lips.

If Levi hadn’t caught on yet, it was only a matter of time.

The young water bender was well aware, that he wasted precious time but couldn’t bring himself to change it.

Levi was needed in the capital, that had once been the last safe haven for the people of the earth kingdom but drowned in crimes and poverty now.

Winning the war against the fire nation had brought peace over the world but the people had lost their common goal, had forgotten what once united them and since the city wasn’t in the clutches of the Dai Li anymore, things had changed in the last decades.

Now, it was politicians that brought ruin to their own people, not the looming danger of foreign troops and the quarrels over land, money and natural recourses – although disputed with diplomatic means rather than acts of war – took a heavy toll on the population.

That the fire nation had long since stopped repair payments and stayed secluded as if the misery they had once brought into the world no longer bothered them, certainly didn’t help and Levi explained to Eren during one cozy evening around the fire, that – during his remaining life – Zuko had put outmost effort into repairing the relations between his country and the other nations, but the nation itself, his very own people, were the problem.

A hundred years of war, of indoctrination, of being told that they were meant to be better, that they were supposed to rule the world, didn’t vanish overnight, even if the head of state was replaced. It would take generations to set things right in the minds of the fire folk and the few that had passed so far, were obviously not enough.

What had driven the small fire bender to become an outlaw that provided for the poor and the sick in a place that still resented his kind, Eren didn’t know but it wasn’t his place to judge Levi for his lifestyle.

As an avatar, he tried to stay detached from the small worldly issues around him and while it was his duty to help those in need, he wasn’t meant to solve robbery crimes in the capital. What mattered, he thought, was the big picture and by the spirits, the city was in desperate need for people like Levi.

The less affluent had once resided in the lower district of Ba Sing Se. Now the area was overtaken by the slums that stretched far beyond the last inner wall into the outer ring. The people there were miserable and Eren knew that it would one day become his task to give guidance to them.

If someone like Levi decided to run some raids in the meantime to assure that the children and elderly stayed fed, all the better.

Sometimes, Aang had told him during one of his meditations, a wrong was needed to make a right and while he implored Eren to never lose himself, never do something that truly tarnished his values, he still agreed with the young bender, that the world wasn’t made of black and white and one’s boundaries needed to be bend at times, just like the elements themselves.

At the end of their fourth week together, Levi’s behavior started to change, and it didn’t take long for the avatar to understand, that the fire bender was beginning to resign.

The small man was still patient with him – despite his overall impatience. He didn’t blame, didn’t judge but something in his expression had changed, something that told Eren that Levi no longer expected the water bender to succeed, before they had even started the next session.

Where in the past weeks he had seen a glint of conviction in the morning, that managed to convince even Eren that ‘ _today was the day, they would make progress_ ’, his eyes stayed blank in their beauty now and even though Levi still explained, still went through the motions, he seemed to have lost his belief that they could get real results any time soon.

Levi asked him about his training in the other elements, tried to find out how much time it had taken Eren to get the hang of it, consulted with Armin and Mikasa about their teaching methods and inquired time and time again what the boy was thinking, how he felt, if he had slept well, what he ate, if he was afraid of fire – anything to get an idea why his bending was completely out of control.

The avatar answered with curt sentences at best, was rather evasive most of the time and the defeated sigh he had heard one too many times from the fire bender in the last days began to hurt deeper than expected.

Aside from their training, Eren was glued to the small man, went hunting with him, gathering fire wood when Levi was too exhausted to keep the flame in the pit running, hiked with him through the area surrounding the western temple and only kept to himself whenever the fire bender bathed.

The tales Levi had to tell got Eren’s undivided attention every time. Stories about what he had seen in the world, about his friends in the underground of Ba Sing Se, about spectacular heists and impossible escapes and sometimes, in rare moments, he shared some of the little wisdom Levi had gathered during his years and the water bender absorbed it like a sponge.

The knowledge of a simple man, not the legacy of a thousand reincarnations.

_Show respect to those who deserve it. Every human life has value. Nobody is invulnerable. Make the choices you regret the least._

Levi was still grouchy, still foulmouthed, still abrasive but a certain fondness had wound its way into his words when he talked to Eren and the amount of insults he gifted to the boy had drastically decreased, despite him being a failure as a student.

And while the water bender had understood that had become infatuated with someone for the first time in his life, he was certain that the small man saw things from a different angle.

He treated Eren like an adult but still spoke to him like a friend, like a son.

Five weeks into their journey, the water bender was still turning the training grounds of the western air temple into an inferno whenever he attempted to bend fire with Levi at his side and while he had tried to cast all thoughts of it aside, he knew that their time was running out.

When the fire bender approached him one evening, guiding him away from the fire to talk to him, it still hit him out of nowhere and the avatar could only answer with a mute nod, feeling more unprepared than ever in his life.

Levi walked them through the stairways connecting the different parts of the complex, far away from the plateau they had chosen for their camp side and when he finally stopped to sit down on a ledge of one of the hundreds of balconies of the temples to let his feet dangle over the ground, Eren swallowed heavily around the lump in his throat before he sat down next to him.

“Look Eren…”

The water bender went stiff at Levi’s words as they loomed foreboding between them while the small man took a deep breath.

“This is obviously not working.”

Clenching his fists in his lap, the avatar stared down into the abyss that opened below the hanging temple buildings.

“I’m not saying that I want to ditch you. You fulfilled your end of the deal and taught me, but I don’t think I can do the same for you.”

“What…”, the boy choked out with a broken voice, before he cleared his throat and tried again. “What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying…”

The fire bender exhaled, and his breath shimmered in front of his mouth like the air above a crackling fire.

 “I’m saying, maybe we should invest our time in finding another teacher for you instead of training together. I can help you to find someone, you’re obviously not learning anything from me.”

“You want to leave?”

His voice was reduced to a whisper now to conceal how badly it was shaking and the tightness that had started to constrict his throat hindered his already stuttering breathing.

“I can’t stay here forever, Eren. You know that.”

The water bender shook his head at those words like a petulant child, his hands clutching the rough fabric of his own pants and his answer was barely intelligible, rather sobbing than speaking by now. “No… no you… you can’t leave…”

“Eren…”

“ _No!_ ”

Levi’s face contorted in confusion as the boy yelled, the dam broke and the telltale prickle in Eren’s eyes turned into heavy tears.

“You– You can’t leave! You are– We are– It’s destiny!”, the boy stammered hastily, his voice still raised.

“Eren, what are you talking about?”

“The visions! I saw you! My dreams–”, the rest of the sentence got swallowed by a hiccupped sob as the young water bender cried openly now, his hands raised to his eyes to hide them and wipe tears and snot away.

“Brat, hey, stop.”, Levi’s fingers closed around Eren’s wrists and pulled them away from his blotchy face, distaste evident in his voice, before he pressed a piece of fabric to the boy’s nose.

“Why didn’t you tell me? What did you see?”

“I– “, another hiccup slipped from Eren’s lips and the crocodile tears kept falling. “I dreamed of you. There was fire everywhere and– and in the center of it, you.”

“And that means something?”

“Yes!”, the brown mob of hair flew around as Eren nodded insistently. “Yes. It’s rare but– but some avatars have visions of those– “, the kid spoke so fast that he almost stumbled over his own words as if he was afraid that the fire bender would get up and leave before he could finish his sentence. “– those who are connected to us by fate. Aang saw Toph and– and I saw you!”

“Huh…”, Levi replied, a moment of silence settling between them, disturbed only by the sounds of Eren’s labored breathing and an occasional snuffle, before he continued. “Fire everywhere? Sounds more as if I’m your nemesis, no?”

The boy shook his head, clutching the – by now – disgusting tissue in his fingers. “It’s like you said. Fire is life.” Eren’s voice was low, almost devotional. “It was… frightening… But when I looked into your eyes, I always felt its light and its warmth. It felt like home…”

“Home…”, parroted the older man thoughtfully and Eren looked up, searched for his gaze.

“You know, don’t you? That you have the eyes of a water bender.”

“I guess…”, replied the fire bender vaguely and Eren felt himself frown.

“Don’t you know?”

Levi shook his head, a weak sigh slipping from his lips. “One of my parents must have been a fire bender.”, he gestured to himself, before he continued, “With the looks and all, and... well... the bending.”

The avatar agreed that that much was obvious. Not only was the small man gifted with the talent of fire bending, but his pale skin and black hair were known physical aspects of the indigenous inhabitants of the fire nation.

“Maybe my father was from the water tribes, had a little liaison with a fire bender and she dropped me as soon as I popped out of her. The other option is my mother being from the south or north. Could be feeling ashamed of bearing the bastard of a fire bender, could be human trafficking from the water tribes, could be a lot of things really. I lived in orphanages as long as I can remember, went through the glorious education system of the fire nation, joined the army… The rest is history.”

“You’d be an incredible water bender.”, whispered Eren. “Your parents may have deserted you, but you carry their heritage.”

He looked up to be caught by Levi’s intense stare and wondered if he had said something wrong, while he had only wanted to express how perfectly the fire bender had executed their training and how natural the ways of the water seemed to come to him, but the small man smiled eventually and nodded.

“I don’t resent them. At least they let me live. If nothing else, they brought me into this world, it’s good enough for me.”

The fire bender leaned back, resting on his muscular arms, stemmed into the ground behind his back and silence washed over them once more, while Levi stared into the distance.

When he spoke again, it almost caught Eren off guard, unexpectedly breaking the tranquility around them.

“Eren… If you want me to train you, you need to be honest with me.”

“But I am!”, he answered a little to quickly, spoke a little to fast and the small man turned his head, shooting him an unimpressed and obviously disbelieving look.

“No, you’re not. Something distracts you, but you’re not telling me what’s wrong. You don’t tell me what you think.”

“There’s nothing Levi.”, he said a little more insistent, averting his eyes to avoid the strong gaze directed at him.

“Is it the fire? Are you afraid of it?”

“ _I’m NOT afraid!_ ”

Levi only looked at him for a moment, while Eren’s loud outburst echoed from the walls around them, before he shook his head, his expression disappointed, almost sad and his voice was low when he spoke, resigned, as if the young water bender had shattered his resolve. “Why can’t you talk to me?”

“Because it’s you…”, Eren whispered, but the sudden gust that rose around them and ruffled their hair didn’t manage to steal the breathless words from his lips and Levi’s head flew around yet again, his eyes wide, his brows drawn together, his expression soft yet confused.

“What...?”

Eren didn’t reply, couldn’t say a word but the heat in his face, the way he bit his lips nervously seemed answer enough for the older man to understand the full extend of the confession and his eyes darted around helplessly for a moment, away from the boy, down into the abyss, back to turquoise irides that didn’t meet his gaze.

“Eren, I – You…”

The boys’ shoulders slumped slightly, as if curling in on himself could prepare him for the blow he expected to come.

“You’re so young, Eren.”

Looking up in surprise, he found Levi’s expression to be torn and a new wave of courage washed through him, making him blurt the first thing that came to mind. “I’m thousands of years old!”

The fire bender grinned and Eren’s heart fluttered anxiously, his sudden confidence gone as quickly as it had appeared, leaving him shy, his next word nothing but coy mumbling. “Technically…”

“You are, aren’t you?”, Levi chuckled, shaking his head in amusement at the same time.

“Armin said, love knows no bounds.”, he added, as if he could convince the small mans heart if only he came forward with enough reasonable arguments.

“Did he now?”, his teacher smiled before he gave a short nod. “Wise people, these air nomads…”

He fixed his eyes on the young bender, propping his head on one of his hands. “It’s true, I suppose. It’s not always right though and love is a tricky thing. You know anything about it?”

Looking down at his hands that had begun to clutch his pants again, he shook his head with a solemn expression.

He didn’t, not really, had never loved someone before, had never felt anything but friendly affection from others and the deep devotion of a mother for her children, of a spouse for his wife that he had seen in the visions of his past life’s and his daily encounters throughout the world, where something foreign for him.

“Is it…? Wrong?”, he asked meekly, and Levi’s answer was just as immediate, just as serious and genuine as Armin’s had been.

“No.”

A pale hand found his clammy fingers, took them gently and squeezed them, prompting the young avatar to finally meet Levi’s eyes, soft and understanding and full of fondness.

“It’s not wrong Eren. I’m honored, but I don’t…”, the fire bender breathed deeply, lost for words and the youth mustered a shaky nod.

“Because I’m a boy…”

Levi hummed and Eren closed his eyes, his mouth pressed into a thin line to hold back the tears, that started flowing despite his best efforts as soon as he felt strong, warm arms around him, gently embracing the water bender while a careful hand glided into the chaotic strands of his hair, petting his head tenderly.

“Shhh…”

Warm breath ghosted over his ear, while the small man cradled him and Eren held onto him as if Levi would disappear the moment he loosened his grip.

Heartbreak, he thought.

Heartbreak was like a cold flame, devouring people from the inside, leaving nothing but emptiness.

 

~~~

 

When they started to train the next morning, Eren had changed, something dull and pained residing in his eyes now instead of the fiery spark they had all gotten used to and Levi couldn’t fight the guilt that washed over him, knowing that he had shattered something unique and beautiful in the boy’s heart.

It was the first time that he controlled the fire he was meant to bend and while it should have been cause for celebration, it left the group with nothing but anxious worries, as they watched while the water bender went through the motions, the flames erupting from his palms blue now as they burned hotter than any normal fire ever could.

Eren hadn’t tamed the storm inside himself. He had buried it and fueled his bending with the ache in his chest, the blaze he created no longer lively and beautiful but deathly and all consuming.

His earth bending was consistent, his air bending reached new heights as his mind seemed just as empty as his beautiful eyes now but his water bending, the very essence of his being slipped from him day by day.

No longer seemed the avatar able to let his emotions and thoughts flow, couldn’t feel the changes of the tides, the pull of the moon and it didn’t take much time before it was Levi who had to remind the boy of the very lessons he had been taught previously.

After a few failed personal training sessions and sudden floods of water in the camp when the boy had tried to perform simple techniques to fill the kettle or the stony tub that Mikasa had created for them to wash their hands and faces, it wasn’t much of a surprise that they heard soft sobs in the night when the boy thought that his companions were asleep, but heartbreaking all the same.

One week after their fateful conversation, Eren’s skin had turned pale and ashen, his eyes permanently rimmed with red and sunken above heavy bags and dark circles despite his young age.

Armin was worried but cautious, his questioning looks still weighing heavier on Levi than Mikasa’s less delicate approaches. It had happened several times that he found her index finger poking his chest accusatory, accompanied by questions along the lines of ‘ _By the spirits, what have you done?!_ ’.

When the second week of Eren’s newfound fire bending abilities neared its end, the nomad took him aside, invited him for a stroll through the temple complex and it was the first time in a long while, that Levi felt nervous, following the air bender like a child that expected a beating from his master.

Armin didn’t speak for a long time, just wandered through the buildings in deep contemplation and the longer they walked, the calmer it made the fire bender feel.

Eren and Mikasa were young, incredibly so and while Levi had a few years on the nomad, Armin was closer in age to him. An adult, thoughtful and attentive, who didn’t easily jump to conclusions.

The upbringing of the air benders, their education and their deep connection to the spiritual world had molded him into a wise young man, empathic and gentle, worthy to be the teacher of the avatar.

“He hurts.”, was all he said eventually as he stopped within the sanctum, looking at Eren’s statue in the long line of images that had been molded from the rock of the cliff.

“I won’t lie to him.”, answered Levi, enchanted by the place, his gaze wandering over all the people, all the life’s Eren had lived and reminded him of who exactly they were talking about.

Not a simple boy, but an ancient soul that resided in the body of the young water bender, summoned into existence again and again, to face agony and misery in hopes that it could ease the pains of this world.

“I know.”, Armin bowed in front of Eren’s stony figure, before he turned away, facing Levi with an unreadable smile. “How could we tarnish all that’s good and pure in this world with false words?”

The fire bender frowned, confused about the nomad’s agreement, before the small air bender finished his line of thought. “A lie is a lie though. Telling it to oneself instead of someone else can’t grant one absolution.”

“I don’t –“

“There is a saying among the air nomads.”, Armin continued, effectively cutting Levi off without batting an eye. “Everything has it’s time and place. Would you agree?”

He shrugged indecisively, his eyes following the tattooed man as he began walking among the statues. “I guess?”

The nomad hummed softly, as he stopped in front of Aang’s statue and reached out to touch it solemnly, closing his eyes and breathing in, before he focused his attention back on Levi. “Sometimes we don’t have time.”

“Look, baldy, I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me.”

The air bender nodded, his hands coming together in front of his lap, his fingers entwining. “I’m telling you… that we don’t have time for your doubts.”

Raising one arm, his fingers ran over his shaved had, while he seemed to be searching for words. “He is losing himself. You think you need time, but there is none. You make him suffer, and for what?”

“Armin, I can’t…”

“Because he is a boy? Because he is young? He’s the _avatar_. We need him. _The world_ needs him!”

“So, what? I’m some shitty sacrificial lamb you want to put on his altar for him to function properly?!”

The nomad huffed at his words, shaking his head in disbelief. “I want you to search inside yourself. Search your feelings. Look beyond the exterior and truly ask yourself what your heart tells you.”

His eyes softened as he held Levi’s gaze and a sad smile crept into his face. “You know that Eren saw you in his dreams. It means something! In another time, another world, you might have had the luxury of exploring yourself, watch him grow up, fall in love with what he is going to become, but not here, not now. Eren is… broken. Think about whether this is truly all there is to it, if there is nothing you can do.”

Feeling drained by Armin’s words, he looked away, back to the statue of the young man who had offered his heart to him.

 _In another time, in another world…_ He smiled devoid of all happiness.

“You’re like the fire.”, the air bender mused. “You can kindle his flame…”, a heavy pause caused Levi to turn his head and fix his eyes on the nomad’s tired expression. “…or burn him to the ground.”

 

~~~

 

Six weeks. Six _fucking_ weeks since Levi had left Ba Sing Se and he didn’t see the end of it.

There was no deep desire inside of him the leave the avatar as soon as humanly possible. Instead he had grown fond of the boy and enjoyed being in his company, that much was easy to admit.

Nevertheless, he struggled with the knowledge that his peers fought plague and hunger and kin within the walls without his aid and considering Eren’s current condition, you couldn’t leave the boy in good conscience either.

Watching the brat bend fire was physically painful, made him feel as if he paid witness to the birth of an abomination of flames – a monster he had created all by himself – and he’d rather watch the whole city drown in its own filth than allow the pure hearted child in front of him to further sully himself with his horrendous fire creations.

After three more days of suffering through Eren’s abhorrent bending, Armin’s words weighing heavily on his mind, he put an end to it one chilly morning, sent the avatars companions away with clipped words and a harsh glare and when the water bender looked at him in mild confusion, he stepped closer and instructed him to turn around, just like the very first time he had asked the boy to tame a flame.

“Close your eyes”, he rumbled, his voice still rough from sleep and Eren took a deep breath, centering himself, before his lids fluttered down until his long lashes came to rest on the soft skin above his cheek bones.

“Eren…”, he began, taking the boys hands that hung loosely on his sides, before he pressed the heated skin of his chest to the water benders cold back.

The avatar inhaled again, a shaky breath this time that he tried to conceal, but Levi wasn’t fooled.

“Your flame is cold. You’re bending fire, but there is no heat inside of you.”

His forehead came to rest between the young man’s shoulder blades, as if to proof a point.

Levi was burning up from the inside, always was, always had been but the avatar felt like a corpse in comparison, his skin waxy, clammy and lifeless.

“It’s ugly.”, he finished, a certain finality in his words that made Eren’s entire back stiffen.

“Please…”, the boy whispered after a few heartbeats filled with silence, begging the older man to step away and Levi released his fingers, put his hands on Eren’s shoulders to turn him around.

“You’re beautiful Eren. This isn’t you.”, he explained as the avatar opened his eyes that shimmered with unshed tears and the fire bender followed an impulse, an instinct really, when he cupped the boy’s cheek, his thumb rubbing gently over the bone below his soft skin.

“You need to stop, Eren.”

Soft lips trembled, as the kid looked down on him. “Levi, I – “

“I need time.”

His hand ran into silky brown strands before it closed around the slim neck. A boy, truly, not a man, Levi thought, but it didn’t stop his motions as he pulled the water bender closer, pressed his lips on the plump mouth and felt the shiver that ran over Eren’s skin, tickling his fingertips at the brat’s nape.

“Don’t let yourself be swayed so easily. Nobody can make you happy, but yourself, do you understand that?”

The boy answered with a hesitant nod, clearly overwhelmed by what had transpired between them.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you. What you ask of me, I cannot promise you yet, I may never be able to.”

He pulled the slim figure into his arms and ruffled his hair.

“Give it time and don’t just succumb to your negative feelings. More than anyone else, you need to love yourself.”

 

~~~

 

The next time Eren saw the fire devil, he was flying over the homes of the inner ring of the capital.

Levi had left their group only a few days after his last training with the avatar, who had slowly regained control of both, his water bending and his heart.

The summer had passed and while Eren still hadn’t mastered the ways of the fire and was in need of another teacher, he had found peace with the support of his companions and Levi’s words engraved in his soul.

That they had returned to Ba Sing Se was pure coincidence, a stop they hadn’t planned in their journey as Eren was currently traveling through the different sanctums, lately focusing on the fire sages who had resumed their sacred duty to guard the secrets of the avatar since the end of the war.

It was at one of those stops, that an urgent message from the upper class of Ba Sing Se had reached him, pleading for his help and guidance as they faced an unknown threat against the city. A plea, Eren couldn’t ignore.

The danger lurking in the city – so it seemed now – was the infamous fire bender himself, who danced through the sky on light feet, his flames easing him through the air.

“And they say only air benders can fly…”, Armin murmured delighted, as they watched from the distance how rebels savaged yet another convoy of goods while Levi diverted the attention of their pursuers, jumping over the roofs of the city, aided by the boosts of his fire bending.

Eren smiled, his eyes following the small man as Mikasa readied herself to step in at any given moment, despite knowing that the water bender wouldn’t help to convict his former teacher.

The avatar, that much was clear, wasn’t an executive authority.

He wouldn’t stop the poor from stealing, when they were in desperate need of food, as long as they didn’t bring harm to others and his heart was just as much with the famished folk as it was with those that sought justice for losing their belongings.

His approach, he knew at this very moment, would have to be different, because Levi wasn’t posing a danger to the city nor it’s people and while he understood the uproar within the inner circle and wanted to assure everyone’s safety, it wasn’t his place to reprimand either side.

The rich needed to learn to give, the poor needed to learn trust. Only if both sides found their way into a mutual agreement, would the problem disappear.

“Let’s greet our friend.”, he said with a smile, before he leaped off the building, roaring upwards with a strong gust of wind, created by his own hands, while Armin unfolded his glider and Mikasa jumped on a pile of rocks that had appeared out of nowhere – hopefully not ripped from the wall of a building.

When they reached the man and his followers, still caught up in a frantic chase on top of the roofs of the city, Eren didn’t hesitate to slam all of them down with a wave of water he had gathered from the decorative fountains all around in the streets of the inner circle.

Levi was captured in a pile of rocks and pinned to the roof immediately, conjured with a flick of the water benders wrist, and Eren stepped in front of him, a grin on his lips that prompted grey eyes to widen in recognition, before the small man glared at him with a deathly stare.

“I’ll take it from here.”, announced the avatar, as the authorities gathered themselves and closed in on the fire bender who struggled in his stony hold on top of an equally stony roof.

“Avatar Eren, we should– “

“I…”, the young man stepped forward and even though his eyes didn’t glow to reveal his true power, his voice gained a distorted quality, known only from the avatar state. “…will take it from here.”

A few uncertain looks between the earth benders were interrupted by the heavy collision of Mikasa’s ‘ _vehicle_ ’ as she crashed into the roof without disturbing a single black strand of her hair, while Armin landed on silent soles and they bowed in the next moment, retreating from the scene while Eren turned around and looked down at his former teacher.

“Levi…”

“You shitty brat!”, spat the small man and Eren chuckled, dislodging the earthy shackles that had chained Levi to the ground.

“I’m glad to see you too.”, he answered, crouching down and reaching out with his right hand to help the small man up.

“Tch.”

Pale fingers closed around his own, as the man hoisted himself up, before he patted his clothes, trying to rid them of dirt and dust. “What are you doing here?”

“The city summoned me to save them from a great evil.”, intoned the boy solemnly before a mischievous grin split his face. “It seems they failed to realize that the evil was rather small though.”

“Har har!”, growled the fire bender, gifting the young man with a punch to his arm for his remark about Levi’s height, before he really took him in and Eren’s features softened.

“It’s good to see you, brat.”

The water bender smiled, and Levi saw immediately just how much Eren had changed within the short time span of their separation.

Couldn’t have been more than half a year but the tan on the avatars skin was back, his shoulders and arms filled out slightly, his frame still adolescent but more grown than before.

“I missed you, Levi.”

He answered with a grunt, pulled the boy into a tight hug and Eren didn’t try to hide the way he inhaled the fire benders scent and reveled in the unnatural heat of his skin, as he closed his eyes.

“I missed you too, dipshit.”

 

~~~

 

“So, what do you expect me to do, let the people hunger?”

Eren shook his head, as Levi sat down in front of an old, used table, a solitary oil lamp being the only source of light in the dark, windowless room beneath the ground.

The fire bender had invited them into their refuge, fed them and Mikasa and Armin had soon left their company after a long day of traveling to get some much-needed rest.

“I don’t condemn your choices nor your actions, but you’re no longer a nuisance to the upper class, but a threat. What do you want to accomplish?”

Levi shrugged, reaching out for a steaming cup of tea he had filled mere moments ago. “We’re just trying to survive from day to day. I haven’t really thought about my endgame, brat.”

“Well maybe you should. Do you want to wait till the authorities have enough of you, sweep through the streets and purge the slums or do you hope that the people will rise up before and take what they need with violence or overthrow the government? Will it really serve your cause to throw the city into chaos or shouldn’t you try to find a lasting solution?”

“Tch. You really spend too much time with that shitty air bender.”, retorted Levi as Eren finished his little monologue and the boy laughed, his voice deeper now than a few months ago, but still filled with the same warmth.

“You’ve changed.”, whispered the fire bender, stretching his arm out to take Eren’s hand that lay relaxed on the tabletop.

“You haven’t changed at all.”, answered the boy, an honest smile adorning his face. “I’m glad…”

“Did you fare well these last months?”

Eren gave his hand a gentle squeeze before he removed his own to reach for his tea with a nod. “I’m learning a lot. I’ve been traveling the temples of the fire nation, the sages there harbor great wisdom.”

“Wanne show me? We can have a little sparring in the morning.”

Halting his movements, the boy looked up, taking Levi in for a moment before he shook his head. “Not yet. I’m not ready.”

The small man frowned, remembering the deathly blue flames, Eren had awoken with his hands and he wondered if the water bender was still struggling to fill his fire with warmth and life, before he shook the thought off.

The glint in Eren’s eyes was back and Levi had no doubt that he had rediscovered the spark in his heart as well.

“If I can think of something, will you let me help you?”, the water bender changed the topic and Levi pondered over his words for a long moment, apparently too long for the boy as he added “Please trust me, Levi.”

“Fine.”, he huffed, a single flame licking along his nostril before he continued with a mocking voice. “If the avatar can come up with a real solution, who am I to refuse his wisdom?”

“Thanks...”, Eren stood, bowing deeply with a playful lilt to his voice. “…Sifu Levi.”

 

~~~

 

The days carried on and Levi was reminded of why he had felt so comfortable on his journey a few month ago.

His people in Ba Sing Se were his family and friends, close to his heart but the deep contentment he felt in the avatars presence, the wave of calm that washed over him when he listened to Armin’s wise words and the thrill of danger spiking under his skin during his sparring’s with Mikasa gave him a different sense of familiarity.

Eren had once told him, that his eyes made him feel at home and Levi thought, he could relate to those words now, whenever he looked at the boy’s face, that showed the first traces of the man he would become.

Strong, beautiful, warm – like Fire.

He saw the boy in a different light now after only a few months of separation and calmed himself with the thought that Eren was growing up to be a friend, rather than a ward.

As the raids continued, security in the streets tightened, and the rebels were left with no other choice than to abandon their missions more often than not when numerous patrols interfered with their plans.

Whenever Eren wasn’t in the upper ring, negotiating with the wealthy, he accompanied Levi through the slums to spread hope and heal the sick with his extraordinary water bending skills.

The admiration of the people came naturally to him and while they had spent the first evenings of the boy’s visit in solitude, sharing shitty jokes and long forgotten stories of the weeks they had traveled together, Eren was swarmed on a daily basis now as soon as he sat foot into the community areas of the underground, a flock of followers sticking to him like the pest until he managed to excuse himself for the night.

Nevertheless, he made time for his former teacher, joining him in his morning workouts and an occasional training match that left both of them sweaty and heavy breathing but no matter what happened, Eren never bent fire.

Levi tried to not think too deeply about the not so accidental touches, that the avatar received, the brushing of shoulders, the way fingers lingered here and there when a young woman squeezed his arm for whatever good deed he had done.

Eren, he convinced himself, deserved every bit of affection the people gave him, for his deep devotion to mankind and it was easy to dismiss the twinge of jealousy when he told himself, that this was, how it should be, that it was what he had wanted all along when he had refused the boy – that it didn’t matter because Eren never looked at anyone the way he looked at Levi.

It was harder to dismiss the realization, that he shouldn’t think that way.

When supplies started to run low after the third week, the young avatar achieved his first victory, convinced one of the wealthiest families in the capital to donate a massive amount of food, booze and medicine and for the first time in a long while, the people didn’t look to Levi for answers, didn’t praise him for his decisions and swift actions, but someone else.

The fire bender controlled himself well, as they threw a feast that evening, unwilling to let his pride get the better of him when all that really mattered was the safety of the people he had devoted himself to take care of and the warm feeling in his chest for the boy who had granted them much needed help was stronger than the insecurity about his own people turning away from him.

He told Eren as much, thanked him for his relentless effort and the smile on the water benders face was brighter than the sun.

The brat had met most of his little squad by now. Hange, who he usually tended to describe as a mad genius had invented a whole new transportation system for the underground, inspired by the wagons flying through Omashu, though finer tuned and not dependent on earth bending.

Mike was another earth bender, just like the lunatic while Farlan an Isabel hadn’t been gifted with any such abilities, their greatest talent probably being that they were unkillable like cockroaches.

Sasha had been cooking for them for a long while, apparently fighting a never-ending war with herself, not to deplete all their rations in the process by eating them, before they had found out about her incredible talent when it came to handling a bow.

The newest addition to their core team had been a boy close to Eren in age by the name Connie.

It was Levi who had picked him up in the streets many years prior, when the brat was all alone, still shitting in diapers.

That he was an air bender became obvious soon after and when the kid was ready to go into the world on his own, he had left them to search for aid in one of the air temples.

Returning to them a few years later, only weeks before Eren had entered the city again, his hair was gone, but the telltale tattoos of the nomads were missing.

Connie had found out about his heritage but wasn’t ready to devote himself to the kin of the very people who had left him as an infant. Who his parents were, he hadn’t learned so far.

It was this very group of misfits, together with a few squealing fan girls, that surrounded Eren on a table, when Levi walked into the underground hall that hosted todays feast.

He had talked to the boy earlier, before he decided to assure the fair distribution of the gifts they had received, and it didn’t surprise him, that the avatar was swarmed upon his return.

Levi couldn’t even remember when there had been a reason to celebrate the last time and he didn’t begrudge the kid the attention he received from his many new followers, praising him for the good deed.

What surprised him though, was to realize that he didn’t feel the calm happiness, he had expected to settle inside of him.

His eyes swept over the scene in front of him, searching for reasons why he felt so unsettled, despite the joyous mood among the people and a frown spread in his face as he watched Hange hand a huge goblet to the boy, chanting some sort of encouragement at the same time.

Eren downed the contents, his free arm snugly holding a young girl, his cheeks and neck reddened from unknown amounts of alcohol.

The fire bender stifled his instincts to intervene, harshly pressing his lips into a thin line, before he turned around and left, telling himself it was probably better this way, albeit thinking that he had to kick that god damn woman’s ass later, for making the young water bender drink.

Only when he had reached his quarters, did he sit down and think about what truly caused the disturbed feeling inside of him, recalling Armin’s words from months and months ago as they had walked through the sanctum of the western air temple, the picture of a slim woman in Eren’s arms and the realization, that the water bender hadn’t even noticed his presence this time.

 

~~~

 

“Levi!”

Eren ran towards him in a light trot, before he stopped and bent over, hands resting on his knees to catch his breath.

He must have been searching and running for a while to find him, concluded the fire bender, before he folded his arms and looked down at the boy.

“Brat.”

The water bender grinned wide, his skin still a little pale from the escapades of the last night and Levi wondered just how much alcohol he had drunk, before his eyes caught a red spot on the side of Eren’s neck, almost hidden by the hem of his shirt.

So that’s how it was.

“Had fun last night?”, he inquired in a sour tone and the kid nodded like an idiot.

“I did! Maybe a bit too much of that plum wine though.”

Levi cocked a brow, while he gnawed on his bottom lip, unable to pull his gaze away from the hickey on Eren’s soft skin, staring at it again and again, no matter how much he wanted to ignore it.

“What do you want?”

The boy furrowed his brows as Levi’s words came out harsher than intended, before he seemed to shake it off and gathered himself.

“Eh… Some families have asked if they could get a part of the grain to sow it. It hasn’t been dried yet and might take. What should I tell them?”

“Why do you ask me?”

The water bender looked truly confused now, taken aback by Levi’s words and the small man shrugged.

“You want to be a leader? Then lead. You made your own bed.”

“What? But– but Levi!”

Not waiting any longer for the brat to continue, the fire bender turned on his heels, leaving the boy standing dumfounded in the corridor of the underground, without knowing that the same sinking feeling that spread in his heart began to settle in Eren’s chest as well.

 

~~~

 

“Maybe we should leave.”, suggested Mikasa between two bites while Eren kept poking around in his food with a listless expression. “It’s been three weeks. You need to return to the fire temple.”

Armin examined Eren closely, not uttering a single word but Hange stepped in without a second thought in his stead.

“No, no, no! You can’t leave! Things just started to get fun!”, she turned to the water bender, her elbow hitting his side. “Right, Eren!?”

 “I don’t think that’s of importance right now.”, Armin thankfully decided to intervene. “You have no idea why Levi doesn’t speak to you anymore?”

Shaking his head, the boy looked up, uncertainty fogging his eyes. “Everything was fine yesterday, but this morning…”

He sighed, and the brown-haired earth bender adjusted her glasses while she inched closer to Eren.

“Absolutely nothing comes to mind?”, she wondered aloud, an amused grin plastered over her face and the avatar just stared at Hange in confusion before he shook his head.

“Maybe he didn’t like that the people started to tend to me…”, he mumbled. “…but– but it’s my duty, isn’t it?”

His eyes roamed from face to face, searching for confirmation and Hange started to giggle loudly, holding her belly and missing completely that Sasha seized the moment to steal a few spoonsful of food from her plate.

“Ah, he certainly has his pride, our little gremlin.”

“Dude, maybe he just had a bad shit this morning.”, supplied Connie.

Hange adjusted her glasses another time after wiping tears of joy from her eyes, before she shook her head. “I have the feeling the reason lies somewhere else this time. Wouldn’t you agree Armin?”

Narrowing his eyes, the air bender set his fork down, cocking his head, as he looked at Hange for a moment.

That she was frighteningly perceptive had become obvious during their stay, but it seemed as if he didn’t quite manage to catch on to what she was talking about this time.

“You know him best, I suppose.”

“I do! Don’t I? I have a feeling he’s been troubled by bug bites lately. You know how he is. Squeaky clean and all, can’t handle those little fuckers!”

She scratched her neck for good measure as if she was overrun by insects herself and Armin’s eyes wandered to Eren, a smile spreading on his lips.

“I see. I think I understand what you mean…”

“What the hell are you talking about?!”, Connie slapped Sasha’s hand away as she tried to devour his own meal now and the air nomad couldn’t suppress the delighted chuckle that spread from his lips.

“I just came to realize how much of a problem such an infestation might be, seeing how our young friend here seems to be affected as well.”

“Huh?”, Eren looked up, eyes darting from Hange who was still scratching herself below her ear like a madman to Armin, tipping below his own jaw discreetly with the tip of one of his slim digits.

He raised his hand to his neck, immediately feeling a soft sting as his long fingers touched his skin and his eyes widened in horror.

“Oh no…”

“A hickey? Really Eren?”, snapped Mikasa less tactfully and the boy shook his head with vehemence.

“No! It’s not– “

“You better be careful in the future.”, chirped Hange brightly. “There are all sorts of _leeches_ around in the underground.”

 

~~~

 

“Levi! Wait!”

The avatar chased the small man through the tunnel, avoiding passing inhabitants of the underground as he tried to get a hold of the fire bender.

Three days. Three days since Levi had begun to avoid him – the hickey that Eren thought to be the reason for it all, already gone, vanished like Levi’s willingness to face him.

The small man didn’t stop in his fast strides and it was only thanks to the water benders long limps, that he eventually managed to catch up and grab Levi by the shoulder to stop him from walking away.

“Hey, I need to talk to you!”

The blank look he received felt like a punch in the gut after all the time they had spent together, but he didn’t falter nor flinch, when Levi refused him yet again.

“I don’t have time.”

“I don’t care, it’s important.”

A scoff slipped from the fire benders lips. “Doubt it. Now if you’d excuse me…”

He turned around without waiting for an answer and Eren’s fists clenched at his sides as he watched how that god damn stubborn man walked away from him for the umpteenth time.

During the previous days he had tried everything to have a conversation with the bender short of chasing the man through the city during one of their raids and it became apparent that his patience ran out, when a telltale prickle ran through his body and forced him into action.

“I really didn’t want to do this…”

Levi slammed into the right wall of the tunnel, pushed by invisible forces as soon as Eren had raised his hands and the people around them stiffened, frozen in their spots as they watched him in horror, holding the man against the cold stone without even touching him.

“ _You fucking piece of shit!!_ ”, the fire bender seethed immediately, flames gushing from his lips and nostrils in a sudden outburst.

“Out!”, Eren directed his gaze at the people around them, who kept staring at him with wide eyes like mice in front of a snake. “ _NOW!_ ”

They began to scramble away hastily as soon as his shout bellowed through the tunnel and he rammed his left foot into the ground, two stony walls rising from the floor and cutting them off from the rest of the corridor.

“Are you _blood bending_ me into submission?! And here I was thinking you had grown up!”, taunted Levi feigning shock, while he felt how his fingers ran cold, his toes growing numb and dizziness washing over him from the unnatural way his blood tried to circulate inside of him.

“Oh, _I’m_ not grown up?!”, Eren almost yelled again as he turned around, Levi’s head slamming back against the wall in the very same moment, as the avatar had given the liquids inside of his body another push with his hand.

Blood bending without the full moon… Then again, Eren was an avatar from the water tribes and when Levi closed his eyes, he didn’t feel scared, only impressed with the boy, who stepped closer to him now, his face contorted to an angry grimace.

“Who exactly is running away from me the whole time? Am I having the pest?”, Eren shook his head and sneered. “No? Petty jealousy maybe?”

“Wha– “, another move of Eren’s hand pushed him further against the wall and the air from his lungs.

“You’re such a god damn Idiot… I don’t want your people!”, he spat while Levi fought to keep his eyes open. “And this?”, he gestured with his hand, pointing at himself. “Has never been touched by anyone! It’s yours for the taking if you dare, you fucking coward!!”

“What…?”, the fire bender furrowed his brows as the meaning of the boy’s words hit him and he watched how all the fight seemed to leave Eren, before Levi fell to the ground, the hold on his body finally gone and his blood rushed freely through his veins again, swishing loudly in his ears.

“Why?”, whispered Eren with slumped shoulders, his back hitting the opposite wall as he leaned against it. “Can’t you understand how I feel?”

“Eren…”, Levi got up on shaky feet while the boy shook his head, dread unfolding inside of the fire bender, understanding that he had gone too far, and shame washed over him.

The young avatar had always wanted him, had never turned his eyes away despite Levi’s belief that things had changed, and he could fault nobody but himself for the way Eren choked on his own words.

If only he had been man enough to face the boy, face himself, he wouldn’t have hurt Eren again.

“Do you think I don’t get it?”, the water bender sobbed now, raising his voice once more. “Do you think I don’t _know_ , that something is wrong with me? Do you have to mock me with what I can’t have?!”

The fire bender swallowed heavily around a sudden lump in his throat, before he scrambled to the boy. “No, Eren. No, no, no. Nothing is wrong with you. Nothing. You’re perfect, so perfect and so brave and I…”

He bit his lips, staring into wide turquoise eyes, shimmering with tears. “And I was scared… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Eren…”

Raising his trembling fingers to the boy’s face, he stroked his cheek, his jaw, ran his thumb over soft lips, before a tired chuckle escaped him. “Only the spirits know why you want me… Being the idiot that I am.”

He leaned forward, far enough for Eren to understand his intentions while his fingers moved away from the soft face – not the slightest trace of stubble to be found yet – and snaked into his hair and the eagerness he saw in the boy’s expression when his head moved hastily, his lips clashing with Levi’s, pushed the air from his lungs again in a much sweeter, much better way.

Why he hadn’t done this sooner, he couldn’t grasp anymore, couldn’t understand why he had ignored the signs, the jealousy, the jolts of possessiveness when he had thought that the young avatar had moved on and he threw caution in the wind when he claimed Eren’s soft mouth with his own, his worries about gender and age forgotten in an instant.

“Levi…”, the boy pleaded for more between sloppy kisses, not waiting for the small man to appreciate the sensation or find some sort of rhythm but licking at his lips already, coaxing them open and Levi groaned as soon as a cold tongue found his own, while Eren gasped when he felt the intense heat that rose in the older man’s body.

“Eren… wait…”, he barely managed to break their kiss, the boy’s hands roaming over his back, touching the overheated skin of his neck. “Not… not here…”

“You’re so hot…”

Literally.

Levi could barely contain the fire, that rose inside of him, threatened to leak from his mouth, spill from his fingers and it was only thanks to Eren pausing to ram a new opening into the stone and rip an oil lamp from the wall of the tunnel, that he managed to pull himself together.

The boy pushed him into the newly created room, raising the wall behind them, before he was all over Levi again, his mouth searching for skin, his fingers fiddling with clothes in the barely lit room and the fire bender felt too overwhelmed to stop him, when Eren yanked his shirt off and reached for the bare skin on his chest, before their lips connected once more.

If Levi was like the fire that lived inside of him, then the water bender was like the storm over the ocean of his homeland.

All too soon did he reach for the bulge that had formed in the small man’s pants and Levi finally managed to gather himself enough to interrupt him, push him off with a gentle shove, before his labored breathing filled the room, Eren’s questioning stare on him.

“Slow down. I…” _I’m nervous. It’s going to fast. I don’t know what I’m doing here._

“I love you.”, answered the boy, reaching out with one hand and Levi nodded, his fingers clasping around Eren’s, before the water bender pulled him into a tender hug, his words a whisper in Levi’s ears. “I’m sorry, I’ve never done this before…”

The fire bender swallowed, closing his eyes as he nodded again, feeling ridiculous now for being worried about his inexperience with… well, _men_ , while the boy didn’t have any experience at all.

“It’s ok. Don’t worry.”

He pulled back, looked into soft, round eyes and shoved the thought away that he shouldn’t start humping the brat mere five minutes after admitting his feelings to himself, because Eren was brave as always, didn’t shy away, never did.

Not from a confession, not from diving head first into something unknown and it was one of the many things Levi admired.

He had hurt Eren several times, broken him because he had been scared, and he didn’t want to add another scar to the water benders heart, just because he was anxious.

Not when he loved Eren. Not when this felt right.

“I’ve got you.”

Leaning forward, he captured soft lips once more, setting some semblance of a pace now instead of getting drowned by Eren’s uncontrolled desire, while his hands began to roam over the boy’s slender build.

The water bender was all too willing, his hands in Levi’s hair, as the man pushed himself closer for their mouths to melt together, before he nudged his thigh between Eren’s legs, pressing down on his groin until Levi heard his breath hitch and felt his pliant body grow restless.

Breaking the kiss, he leaned back to look down as he reached for the straps that held Eren’s pants in place on his narrow hips and opened them, ignoring the crimson color rushing into the water benders cheeks.

He didn’t want to chicken out, but he was close, nervous about what he was doing and knowing that he was Eren’s first ‘everything’ in this _hole_ without a bed or a single other piece of furniture, only surrounded by cold walls and dim light, didn’t help to ease his nerves.

Maybe he should have taken a rain check, wait for a better moment, a better surrounding, should have taken his time, not only to ease Eren into it, to spoil him, to be gentle and get to know his body, but mentally prepare himself for what he was about to do as well.

Instead he crouched down – the strings from the boy’s trousers hanging from the waistband loosely now – and shoved them down slowly, Eren quivering in front of him.

When the fabric hung around the water benders knees, revealing smooth, golden skin, he stopped, looking at Eren in silence, the avatar squirming more and more, the longer his crotch was exposed to Levi’s scrutinizing gaze.

“Levi…?”

He looked up, wide eyes filled with uncertainty staring back at him and the fire bender smiled, before he ran one of his fingers over soft skin, following the line of the V that formed on Eren’s lower abdomen.

“The hair…”

His fingertip brushed a patch of silky fluff that didn’t spread evenly over Eren’s skin yet, was still soft to the touch, not coarse like the dark pubes Levi hid below his own garments and the hair on the slim thighs was light colored and thin, barely visible in stark contrast to the black one that grew on Levi’s own arms and legs.

The boy’s face fell, and he stiffened, about to step away as shame and embarrassment washed hot through his expression but the fire bender closed his arms around him, pressed his nose into the adolescent groin, his cheek rubbing against the twitching shaft that wasn’t childlike but still caught between youth and adulthood.

Considering what was to come, Levi thought, it was probably for the better.

Holding onto Eren’s hips with a light touch, he mouthed an open kiss onto the heated skin, listened to a soft whimper when he closed his lips around the water bender and lavished him with soft licks until the avatar buried his fingers in Levi’s black strands and moaned openly, the sounds echoing from the cold walls of the narrow room.

 

~~~

 

He hadn’t thought this through, that much was clear to him, as he looked down at the boy, who lay below him on the stony ground, deeply buried inside his heated body.

The slow roll of his hips was maddening, just as distracting as the soft hands that ran up his arms while Eren stared into his eyes, his expression caught somewhere between sweet adoration and feverish desire.

It had hurt, horribly so, when the avatar had entered him, both of them completely clueless and unprepared for their little endeavor but the longer Eren had touched him, had moved inside of him with care and restraint, the more had Levi felt how the flames grew wilder in his body again.

He leaned forward, a hand caressing the boy’s jaw before their lips and tongues connected for the hundreds time and Eren’s hands found their way back to Levi’s rear, holding the muscled cheeks gently as he continued the push and pull, his cock moving into the fire bender without resistance now.

Levi sighed, the sound swallowed by the willing mouth in front of him, their love making a lot less feverish than his own body that burned so hot, that he had heated up the whole room, put a sheen on their bodies and droplets of sweat that dripped from Levi’s chin and ran down his chest.

“So hot…”, whispered the boy again and the fire bender didn’t know if he was talking about the sex or his partner, but the water bender didn’t elaborate, just kept pushing himself into Levi’s tightness, drawing a deep groan from the small man’s lips.

The fire beneath his skin lit up with new vigor while the gentle rocking of their bodies continued and he pressed his eyes shut, tried to swallow the flames that threatened to crawl up his throat and leak from his skin but Eren was either uncaring or oblivious to his dilemma as he pushed Levi’s body up with a tender hand on his naked shoulder, closing the other around the fire benders arousal as soon as the small man sat straight on top of him again and the slow drag at his skin while Eren pumped his cock leisurely almost made him combust right then and there – in the literal sense of the word.

“Eren…”

The boy smiled at him, still shoving himself into the fire bender with a slow pace and Levi groaned again – in pleasure or frustration, he wasn’t sure anymore – because he really hadn’t thought this through and had to fight with all his might against setting both of them on fire, while Eren drove him closer to completion.

“I’m close Levi…”, spilled from his lips and the fire bender answered with a nod, bracing himself with one hand on Eren’s chest, when the avatar picked up the pace a little, still one hand around Levi, his movements faster now, more insistent.

“God, Eren – “

“Yes, yes!”, Eren panted, eyes trained on the small man who looked down on him with half-closed lids, taking the soft, perfect skin of the boy in, smooth and flawless, unlike his own that was ridden with scars and old burn marks, but the avatar didn’t care, held him like a treasure, his gaze filled with wonder as if he couldn’t believe that the fire bender was here.

“So good– Feels so good, Levi– “

The words flowed freely from Eren’s lips now, praises, declarations of love and Levi felt himself grow hotter, coming closer, overwhelmed by the sensation of the warm flesh buried inside of him as the boy jerked his cock, his grip tight, his movements fast, not faltering in the slightest, even when Levi’s eyes flew wide open, a strangled shout escaped him, and the telltale sound of sizzling skin filled the air.

He watched in horror how the smooth expanse of Eren’s chest burned under his palm when he lost control – under the very hand he had used to steady himself – but he moaned still, the boy not stopping for a second, not even flinching while he milked Levi till every last drop of his hot cum had left him and when his body slumped down, Eren was there, holding him, pressing him to his burned chest as he pushed himself deep inside with one last erratic movement and a long, low moan filled Levi’s ear, together with the warm, labored breath of the avatar.

 

~~~

 

“I like it…”

Levi rolled his eyes, while Eren traced the edges of the scar with the tip of his finger.

The perfect handprint, burned into the avatars skin right above his heart was healed already, soothed by Eren’s water bending, but still standing out in the middle of his chest, clearly visible for all eternity.

Needless to say, that Levi had felt like a giant asshole, as soon as the hormonal haze of his orgasm had left him, until the boy had declared with fiery determination that he felt happy and honored to wear the traces of Levi’s touch on his skin.

“But I think one is enough.”, he grinned and turned to the small man next to him, both still sitting on the cold ground with their bare asses. “So maybe you can keep it in next time?”

The fire bender gave a tentative nod, before he looked down at the ground between his spread legs.

_Next time…_

Eren moved closer, sensing the sudden mood change and reached for one of Levi’s hands.

“What’s wrong?”

The small man shrugged, a long exhale leaving his lips. “You sure about that? I’m kind of…” _unworthy_ “…old.”

A soft chuckle filled the air, and the tension that Eren had felt, not knowing if Levi was already regretting their tête-à-tête, left him as quickly as it had risen inside of him.

“I’m _kind of_ old too.”, he squeezed Levi’s fingers and leaned in for a quick peck on his cheek. “And I love you.”

The fire bender sighed, a smile tugging on the corner of his lips but he kept feeling uneasy, despite Eren’s words.

“The hickey…”, he murmured, the boy groaning next to him in response before warm arms pulled him into a soft embrace.

“It’s nothing… I was drunk, some girl was a bit too eager, I sent her off. Nothing happened.”

Levi swallowed, nodding at the same time while Eren began to nuzzle his neck, his lips ghosting over the tingling skin there and a warm breath caused him to shiver when the boy whispered into his ear. “I like your mark the best.”

“Tch.”, he shook his head, disentangling himself from the fucking sap to face him properly. “And what now?”

“Well…”, Eren bit his bottom lip and Levi couldn’t stop his gaze from flickering down for a moment, licking his own, before the water benders youthful voice demanded his attention again. “… I will have to leave soon. My journey is far from being over.”

“I can’t, Eren.”

“I know.”

The brat sighed, slumped against the wall in his back and raised his hands to rub his eyes. “I have to solve the issues in Ba Sing Se, if I want you to come with me…”

“Sounds easy enough.”, scoffed the small bender and Eren hit his shoulder playfully at the remark.

“I’m working on something.”

Levi cocked a brow, but the avatar shook his head, denying him any more answers right away.

“You’ll see.”, was all he said, before he fixed his clothes, looking at the fire bender expectantly when he was done, only to make a face when Levi got up from the ground and left a pool of Eren’s cum behind that had trickled from his insides.

 

~~~

 

“Are you sure you don’t want us to come with you?”

“I am. Only Levi and me.”

Eren kept rummaging through the bundle that contained the few belongings he carried around on his journey, before he found the more traditional attire of the water tribes he was planning to wear later during the day, oblivious to the glare Mikasa was shooting at him.

The plan wasn’t very convincing, but the young bender had demanded their trust and Levi was willing to give it. More willing than the earth bender apparently, who was shaking her head now, not letting the topic go.

“What if they attack you?”

Armin’s chuckle rose from the other side of the room and he covered his mouth briefly, before he gathered himself, linking his fingers again on top of the table he was sitting at.

“You are aware, that Eren is the avatar?”, was all he said with an amused grin, foregoing the fact that the water bender was going to the city council, not entering a military base, as he was sure it would fall on deaf ears anyways.

The boy looked up, giving the nomad a short, grateful smile, before he turned to Levi who was leaning against the door, already dressed in what he considered his best clothes, even if he knew that the worn leather of his pants and the washed-out color of his once black shirt spoke of the poverty he lived in and would only cause the stuck-up assholes in the upper ring to wrinkle their noses.

“Remember not to speak, except you’re asked to. And no bending.”

“What if they _do_ attack us?”, he picked up Mikasa’s question and Eren shook his head.

“No bending. I _will_ protect you if someone tries to harm you. You have to trust me.”

The fire bender looked at the boy, not fully convinced that his request was well thought out and Eren stepped closer, a hand reaching out to settle on Levi’s shoulder, his eyes almost imploring the small man to give in. “ _Please?_ ”

“Fine, whatever.”, was all he could mumble, as his gaze shied away from Eren’s too bright, too beautiful smile, that was practically begging him to kiss the brat.

“We’ll take a palanquin.”, added the water bender and Levi looked at him in disbelief as the boy turned around to resume the organization of his wardrobe. “I know it feels silly, but even with the authorities guaranteeing us free passage into the inner circle, I wouldn’t trust every single patrol in the city to be well informed about that.”

He glanced over his shoulder for a moment, an apologetic smile in his lips. “I don’t want to bust you out of somewhere, before we even reach the council and I _do_ have the right to get my ass carried around, even if I never make use of it.”

Answering with a shrug, rolling his eyes for good measure, he kept watching, when Eren grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head to change into his official ‘ _I-mean-business_ ’ outfit.

Water tribe attire wasn’t as intricate as clothes from the earth or fire lands, but the deep blue colors of the soft fabric looked beautiful on Eren’s skin and the embroidery on the collar – the shapes of the moon surrounded by thin waves, stitched into the textile with a silvery thread – showed the great craftsmanship of its creator.

“What is that?”, interrupted Mikasa the scene yet again and Levi watched in confusion as she closed in on the boy, her hands on the hem of his ceremonial tunic in the next moment to yank it up, causing the fire bender to step forward involuntarily, before he realized what she was talking about and he froze in place with heat creeping into his face.

“A burn mark.”, answered Eren, removing her fingers from the garment in order to pull it down, only to be stopped by Armin who had left his seat to inspect the boys chest as well.

“Looks like a hand print.”

Levi shrunk back against the door, praying to the spirits that Eren’s companions would forget about his existence for now, while the water bender still tried to cover his bare skin again.

“Because it _is_ a hand print.”, he deadpanned and Mikasa’s head snapped around in Levi’s direction, her eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Did you _burn_ him?”

Armin didn’t wait for Levi’s answer, supplying one himself. “A training accident?”

“No.”, the avatar swatted the hands of his companions away and the fabric dropped down over his abdomen.

Their heads turned back to Eren and the fire bender dared to breathe out, now that he wasn’t the center of attention anymore.

“Why didn’t you heal it completely?”, snapped the earth bender and Armin pressed an index finger to his own lips, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Obviously, because I wanted to keep it, Mikasa!”, he snapped back, with equal annoyance in his voice and Levi’s fair skin only paled further while the air benders mouth twitched in silent amusement.

“Why are you making such a fuss?”, he pointed in the nomad’s direction with a hasty gesture. “It’s just _one_ scar. Armin is _covered_ in _tattoos_.”

The small air bender cocked a brow, his expression displeased with the comparison of the mark with the cultural piece of art that adorned his own body. “I will let you know, that these tattoos have a long history and tell a tale about my kind. They’re sacred.”

Eren shrugged in response, his eyes meeting Levi’s and a tender smile graced his lips, before he raised a hand and put it on his chest on top of the fabric, right where the burn mark had shown mere moments ago.

“So, what? Who said that this isn’t?”

 

~~~

 

The solemn expression on Eren’s face was hard to process for the small fire bender, as they walked through the wide gate in front of the city hall.

He knew him with a goofy grin or a bright smile and had recently discovered the feverish glint in his eyes when he buried himself inside of Levi but never had he looked as mature and composed as in this very moment.

An expression he probably always wore when he met with the politicians of Ba Sing Se but had never shown to the older man before.

Levi had had no doubt that Eren’s plan would fail, but he had promised to follow his lead, to trust him and give him a chance and looking at the earnest conviction in the water benders face now, he wondered if there was indeed a way for this whole thing to work.

When they entered the building, the hallways lined with guards, he began to feel uneasy, but the avatar gifted him with a reassuring smile and encouraged him to keep moving until they reached the double door, leading into the council hall.

“Avatar Eren.”

The men and women rose from their seats behind the long, curved table that formed a semi-circle around the center of the room.

“We are honored by your presence.”, the eyes of the spokesperson glanced to Levi while he rattled the official greeting down, before they settled on the boy again. “Is there a reason why the criminal isn’t cuffed?”

Levi’s head swung to Eren, his eyes wide, as the boy kept his unwavering gaze directed at the man who had spoken.

_Was he supposed to be cuffed?_

“He isn’t, because he’s a free man with an honest plea, not a prisoner begging for your mercy.”

His jaw dropped as Eren spoke, almost making it sound as if he was some honorable knight and the official finally relented after a few moments of silence, sitting down with a sigh, the rest of the council following his example.

Levi and the avatar didn’t sit. A subtle reminder, that they remained beggars, bidding for support, as Eren dove into the political issues of the city, assessed the recently worsened situation in the slums, the increasing crime rates in the upper ring as a direct consequence and laid out proposals to redirect the means of the city, to support the poverty-stricken population, that Armin had planned out with him before.

“You can’t expect us to cut funding for the guards and patrols, while people are facing more and more crime in the city!”, interrupted one of the councilmembers eventually and Eren nodded in agreement.

“You’re technically right, but we all know, that the increasing number of raids is directly connected to the decreasing amount of food and medical care in the slums.”

He turned halfway to Levi, his open hand motioning in the direction of the small man.

“You all know who this is. Levi is leading the largest resistance group in the underground of Ba Sing Se. Thousands depend on the supplies he is gathering, and his raids inflict the largest financial damage in the upper districts.”

Eren’s hand found his shoulder in a supportive gesture, as a murmur went through the council and Levi forced himself to keep looking them straight in the eyes.

He wasn’t ashamed of his crimes. Stealing a cartload of food out of hundreds that ran through the city every day, instead if watching people, _children_ , die from starvation was a choice he would make time and time again.

“He has agreed to seize his activities if the support of his people is ensured in return. Instead of wasting money on moving more patrols, more guards into Ba Sing Se from the outside, the city could provide for the people that live in it.”

“And you expect us to send the people we employed into poverty because we don’t need them any longer?”

The boy chuckled, receiving a few cocked eyebrows in return. “The salary of a single guard could feed several families in the underground for weeks. We’re not at war anymore, haven’t been for decades, still those people earn better salaries than the teachers who raise our children or the physicians that heal the sick. Maybe it is time to cut back and rethink our ways.”

“We have an obligation to the people here– “

“The people didn’t choose you to represent them, neither the rich that profit from your decisions, nor the poor who suffer from it.”, interrupted the boy. “Your power is a relic, inherited from the past because your families have always had money and influence in this city, and the opportunity to govern fell into their laps when the king and the Dai Li vanished, but it isn’t your birthright.”

“But it is yours, right?”, asked a woman on their left, with a sour expression, pointing out the fact that Eren hadn’t gained his immense powers and privileges because he was appointed by the people either but had simply been born with them.

“Are you comparing yourself to me?”, was all he said in return, his voice eerily calm, before the temperature in the room shifted every so slightly, a reminder of Eren’s abilities, as he seemed to freeze the humidity around them, the tiny amounts of water in the air, invisible to the eyes and a sudden chill tickled Levi’s skin.

“Are you?”, he repeated, not even moving a finger for his bending, but the woman kept her mouth shut, the council silent now until Eren’s eyes left her and wandered back to focus on the spokesperson in front of them.

“This is our proposal. An agreement to seize criminal activities in the upper ring in exchange for supplies for the slums and the underground.”, he stepped forward, placing a heavy scroll with a more detailed plan, that he had held in his hands up until now, on the table and a murmur rose among the councilmembers again, before the first of them spoke up.

“That’s extortion! You threaten us that the attacks in the inner districts are going to continue if we don’t go along with your idea!!”

“I don’t threaten you and I don’t have a hand in these raids. I’m merely explaining you that the situation won’t change if you don’t make better use of your resources.”

“We’d be done with this whole ordeal right here and now, if we’d arrest this man!”, yelled another, getting um from his seat, accompanied by a heated gesture in Levi’s direction and Eren’s expression darkened instantly.

“This man is under my protection, you won’t touch him.”

“You’re not above the law!”

Levi glanced at Eren, as more and more council members rose from their seats, shouting at the boy whose fingers had clenched into fists at his side, his anger barely contained as he raised his own voice, his words harsh and heavy with finality.

“Your _laws_ don’t concern me!”

The fire bender felt heat prickling in his fingertips, his instincts telling him that he would need to defend himself all too soon but Eren kept talking, his voice stoic and fierce and Levi forced his urges down, reminded himself of his promise not to bend fire, no matter the circumstances.

“I don’t care for your mundane quarrels for power! I’ve given him my word and my devotion lies with _all_ the people of this world. My duty is to help those who can’t help themselves! Arresting this man won’t do _anything_ for those that struggle in your _care_!”

“A crime is a crime.”, answered the head of the council, finally silencing the others with a raised hand, before his eyes wandered to Levi and he shook his head. “His intentions might be noble, but he chose the wrong path. We would have found a way, if he would have pleaded with us instead of stealing from the people.”

 _No_ , thought Levi, _we wouldn’t have,_ and he knew from the way that Eren pressed his lips into a thin line, that the boy thought the same.

Only the looming threat of losing more of their precious goods had even made this meeting possible, a meeting that would have never happened if a lowly inhabitant from the underground had tried to enter the townhall, a fire bender no less.

Levi’s fingers twitched, and he closed his eyes for a second to suppress the burning urge inside of him, before his gaze fell on the man in front of them again, Eren looking in the same direction, shaking his head as if to warn the council not to make a mistake, before the spokespersons voice rang through the room.

“Seize him.”

The small bender didn’t have time to react.

Not because the guards closed in on him within seconds, but because they were gone just as quickly, slammed into the walls by a sudden gust of wind, sweeping them out of the way as if they were made of paper.

“Avatar!”

The head of the council jumped from his chair in the same moment the door behind them slammed open, for more guards that had been alerted by the loud noises, to spill into the room but before the first of them managed to raise their arms and attack Levi with their bending, he got pushed behind the boy, Eren’s eyes flooding with light, the stones flying in their direction whisked away with a single gesture, while a wall of fire rose from the ground, cutting the guards of from the rest of the room.

“Wha– “

Watching the flames with wide eyes, Levi gulped, couldn’t stop staring at the wild inferno of colors burning in front of him, that rose higher and higher, even though Eren had stopped spreading it with his hands after only a few seconds.

Magnificent and beautiful and perfectly contained, the flames not moving further, licking through the air exactly where Eren wanted them to without growing, without devouring their surroundings.

Gone was the cold blaze, the icy blue luster he had seen in the western air temple, replaced by an untamed fire, brimming with life and warmth only known to be created by one kind of being in this world.

“ _Dragon fire…?_ ”, he whispered in disbelief, his head turning to the young avatar who had focused his attention at the council again, eyes still glowing with the power of his past life’s, his voice distorted by the forces that raged inside of him.

“I should have known, that your greed knows no bounds. I release you from your duties and will grant your assets to the city, to be handled by those who follow you, elected by the very folk they are supposed to govern, as punishment for your crimes against Ba Sing Se’s people.”

Eren’s eyes slowly returned to their natural form, his voice softening into the youthful tone Levi was used to hear. “Just because you didn’t hold a weapon to slay them, doesn’t mean that the blood of the poor isn’t on your hands. You’ve been born into a life of privileges, but your ignorance made the very people suffer that are in the care of the city you want to rule.”

He looked around, assessing the pale faces, the reluctance to give in, that still resided in some of them and put an end to it with his final words.

“All life is sacred to me, but I _will_ fight you if I must.”

 

~~~

 

“You _seized control_ of the city?!”

“Isn’t that amazing? It’s a one-man-coup-d’état!”, squealed Hange in response to Mikasa’s question, as they walked through the corridors of the city hall.

“I offered them a chance to take responsibility.”, answered Eren, before a heavy sigh slipped from his lips. “They had no interest in changing things for the better.”

“Was that your plan all along?”

The boy blushed, and Levi rolled his eyes, deeming it enough of an answer to his question, while he pushed the door to the next room open, some sort of conference area, filled with soft seats and plush sofas.

“And what now?”

“Well…”, Eren rubbed the back of his neck before he looked at Armin. “A few air nomads will come to the city soon and handle the administration for a while until the people are ready to elect their own leaders.”

A collective hum sounded through the room, as all of them considered the idea.

Air bender lived a life detached from worldly troubles and learned from a young age to refrain from greed. Keeping to themselves most of the time, they were neutral entities in this world, known to make choices in everyone’s best interest, not just their own.

“I’m sure they’d appreciate your support to get a grasp of what’s been going on here and what the people need.”

The group nodded their consent, the conversation quickly steering towards reorganizing the city, as the rebels thought about how to break the new situation to the population, how to organize elections and which measures were needed immediately to help the situation in the slums.

Levi tuned the voices out while he looked at the boy next to him, his smile, the spark in his eyes he had come to love so deeply.

Handling the situation by himself had been a stupid move but Eren had kept Levi away from any trouble.

It had been the council who broke word, not the fire bender who had refrained from violent measures till the very end, trusting in the avatar to solve the conflict.

And solved it he had, with determination and righteousness and a fire burning in all the colors of the rainbow.

“Eren…”

Turquoise eyes met his own and Levi tugged on his sleeve, silently asking him to follow, before he got up and left the room through a glass door on the opposite side, leading from the building into a wide garden.

“You ok?”

Eren sat down next to him on the stairs under the night sky as Levi watched the fountain in front of them spraying water in a cheerful display, a disbelieving grin adorning his face, considering that they couldn’t find a single drop of clean water in the outer ring.

“Yeah.” He turned to the boy, took him in for a moment and sighed. “That was really stupid, you know?”

“Forgive me Sifu.”, laughed Eren and the fire bender gave the boy a soft smack on the back of his head before they fell silent.

“Your flame…”, continued Levi finally and the avatar hummed, eyes trained on the small man. “…how?”

“Remember our first lessons?”

Eren reached out for his hand and entwined their fingers, his expression softening as he looked at them.

“You said… fire needs fuel.”

A nod was all he got in return and the boy smiled, his voice low now. “I guess… it took me a while to find the right one.”

“Which one?”, mouthed Levi, rather than spoke and Eren leaned forward, not kissing him but resting their foreheads together, his eyes closing as he inhaled Levi’s scent, felt the warmth of his body and his hot breath ghosting over his skin.

He broke away slowly, cupped the small man’s cheek to trace his thumb over the light stubble on Levi’s chin, and the fire bender couldn’t help but smile.

Smile at the young man who had stolen his heart with tenderness and care.

Eren smiled back at him and drew closer once more and Levi barely heard the word, whispered against his mouth, before their lips connected.

 

“ _Love._ ”

 


End file.
